“Tehran Air Quality Control Company announced that the air in the capital on Sunday morning, despite the rain last night, is still orange and unhealthy and polluted for sensitive groups of society,” Iran’s state IRNA news agency said, adding that the capital has seen 100 days of unhealthy air quality since April.
Nine air quality monitoring stations in Tehran are also in “red condition,” according to IRNA, and over 1,500 people have been admitted to hospital in the past week with respiratory and cardiac issues.
Nearly 10 cities and towns in the western Khuzestan province, along with Mashhad, Isfahan, Qom, and Kashan, are also struggling with extremely low air quality.
In Mashhad, hospital admissions have increased “between 15 and 20 percent” in the past two weeks, IRNA said.
About 40,000 people lose their lives due to the effects of air pollution in Iran yearly, Health Minister Mohammedreza Zafarghandi said in late November, and poor air quality also inflicts $12 billion in damage.
Air quality is a source of concern for many Iranians “since the concentrations of several pollutants have been reported to be three times higher than the national standards and air quality guidelines of the World Health Organization,” according to a 2023 study published by Science Direct.
Air pollution kills at least seven million people worldwide annually, according to the World Health Organization.
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